Technology Solutions for Franchisors

Franchise Feasibility Assessment and Operations Analysis

Mark Siebert

CEO & Sr. Franchise ConsultantiFranchise Group

A franchise consultant since 1985, Mr. Siebert founded the iFranchise Group in 1998 as an organization dedicated to developing long-term relationships with successful franchisor clientele. Mr. Siebert has worked with hundreds of franchisors, from start-up operations to corporate giants. He is an expert in evaluating companies for franchisability, structuring franchise offerings, and developing franchise programs. The strategic planning recommendations developed by Mr. Siebert have been instrumental in the growth and success of numerous national franchisors.

Mr. Siebert also serves as a Partner and Member of the Board of Directors of Franchise Dynamics, LLC, the nation’s premier franchise sales outsourcing firm. Mr. Siebert has helped Franchise Dynamics grow from a start-up operation to a staff of more than a dozen professionals plus support staff whose combined credentials include the sale of more than 5,000 franchises.

For more than two decades, Mr. Siebert has been actively involved in assisting U.S. franchisors in expanding abroad. He has provided consulting services to franchisors in more than two dozen countries and his efforts have been responsible for the sale of numerous international licenses. Mr. Siebert has also personally supervised the establishment of international consulting practices in Argentina, Chile, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Uruguay, Peru, and the Philippines.

Mr. Siebert is widely acknowledged as a leading authority on franchise expansion and finance, having in 1989 led a joint venture for the purpose of obtaining funding for franchisors. In 2001, he co-founded Franchise Investors, Inc., an investment firm specializing in franchise companies.

Mr. Siebert has presented more than 400 speeches and seminars on franchising in cities around the globe. He has been a featured speaker for the International Franchise Association, the International Franchise Expo, the International Franchise Association’s Legal Symposium, the American Bar Association, the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers, the Franchise Finance Conference, the National Restaurant Association, the Canadian Franchise Association, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and at major franchise events in Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Peru, and Uruguay. He has been a featured guest on business programs airing on CNN, Fox Business Network, and other programs both in the U.S. and abroad.

Mr. Siebert has published well over 100 articles in dozens of business and professional periodicals, including The Franchise Handbook, Success, Venture, Entrepreneur (both in the US and in Japan), Entrepreneurial Edge, Commerce, Franchising World, Successful Franchising, Business Opportunities Journal, California Restaurateur, and Food Industry News. Mr. Siebert is the featured columnist on “How to Franchise a Business” for Entrepreneur.com and is a regularly featured columnist in Franchise Times magazine and The Franchise Handbook.

Mr. Siebert is frequently called upon as an expert witness in franchise-related cases. He was on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers (AAFD), on the Board of Advisors to Connections for Community Ownership, was named to the Franchise Times list of “20 To Watch” in franchising in 2002, and in 2001 was named the AAFD’s Supporting Member of the Year and received the AAFD Special Recognition Award in 2003. In 2011, Siebert was the subject of a feature article in Restaurant Franchising entitled “The Franchise Growth Guru.”

He holds a B.S. in Advertising and an M.B.A. from Northern Illinois University, and has taught undergraduate and post-graduate courses in business and in franchising at Lewis University, Loop College, and DePaul University.

Get Free Franchising information

Request a free video on how to franchise your business, and we'll have the right franchise consultant contact you.